The ‘Game of Thrones’ map doesn’t always match up with the story because…

Among the many delights of the “Game of Thrones” viewing experience is seeing which locations appear on the opening credits map in any given week. But sometimes, I wind up wondering what the logic is for certain decisions about the map, like some weeks we see locations that don’t actually appear in that episode, while locales where several characters are present (and that have appeared on the map before) aren’t featured.

For instance, tonight’s episode, “Sons of the Harpy” (I reviewed it here) featured our first new map location of season 5, the southern Westeros kingdom of Dorne, even though Dorne had first appeared on the show two episodes early. And the Eyrie appeared in the credits of several early episodes, even though no characters have been there this season, while it didn’t appear at all late last year when Sansa and Littlefinger were living there.

Earlier this week, I got on the phone with “GoT” producer Greg Spence to talk about the various logistical and creative reasons for why some locations appear in some weeks, and some don’t. Here’s what you need to know:

It took the show a while to settle on a map style.

“Early on, before we had ever shown anything to HBO, we were concerned about having so many characters and having so many locations, and looking for ways to clarify and connect with where we were,” Spence says. “We played around with a lot of ideas.”

One would have been “an Indiana Jones-style traveling camera kind of thing,” while another would have followed the style of the interstitals on “Wild Wild West” – not with commercial breaks, since HBO doesn’t have them, but to mark the transition from one location to the next – that presented that little piece of the larger puzzle that is George R.R. Martin’s world.

Eventually, Angus Wall at Elastic, the company that makes the titles, had, according to Spence, “a vision of a mad monk, in a tower somewhere,” who was somehow keeping track of all this action, “and creating as he went. He would then fashion little automatons out of the materials that would be available in his world. They would be stone, or tin, or wood, and everything would feel very hand-crafted.”

Some locations are constant.

Every episode’s map features King’s Landing, Winterfell, the Wall and wherever Daenerys is at the moment. That doesn’t change even if the episode doesn’t feature a single scene in one of those places, or if there aren’t any significant characters there at the moment.

The map is meant to be symbolic, rather than literal.

Winterfell has remained constant even though it didn’t appear at all in season 3, and for most of season 4, because “Because it’s the seat of the Stark power and the Stark family, and those are one of our primary groups of powers, we wanted to keep it in.”

Similarly, the map always gives us some location over in Essos where Daenerys might be, even if Emilia Clarke and friends have that week off.

“The way the main title, and the way that the camera travels, and crossing the Narrow Sea into Essos is important to us,” says Spence, “because it communicates the expanse of the show, and it helps to remind the audience of the entire world in which the show takes place. I think if we tried to limit the main title to just places that appear in the episodes, or we’re literally tracing each character, it would be more confusing and less successful at its primary task, which is really orienting people to the world.”

Time is a factor – for the show and for the people who make it.

The opening credits are the same length every week – in part to fit the theme music – so even an episode featuring a bunch of locations that Elastic had already created wouldn’t have room for all of them in the title sequence. Beyond that, though, it’s not just a matter of pointing and clicking at different graphic files on the computer. Setting up the camera’s movement from place to place – with King’s Landing, Winterfell, the Wall and somewhere in Essos having to be factored in no matter what – takes a lot of time.

“It would be untenable, both from a production point of view, and probably from a cost point of view, to make a completely customized 3D animated, 90 second sequence before every single episode. That would be a tremendous financial and creative burden. What you do see is a very complicated 3D build. The guys at Elastic begin working in October in order to deliver the sequences to us in February and March. So it’s quite a bit of manpower and man hours that goes into it.”

At the start of each season, production figures out what locations will be visited and tries to figure out which can be practically shown. Spence says there are usually “three or four camera paths per season, and within those paths, there’s a certain amount of revisited towns and cities, and we reuse animation, and we balance that with new camera moves and new animation.”

Sometimes, familiar locations are used as stand-ins for where people actually are.

Like I said, the Eyrie came back at the start of this year, even though Sansa and Littlefinger had already left its walls at the end of the previous season.

“For the reasons of production, and also of affordability, we do often reuse camera moves wherever we can,” says Spence. “We also have certain associations with characters. Now, we have the Eyrie, that early in the season we were associating with Littlefinger and Sansa in their trip. They’re not right in the castle, but they’re nearby when they pass Pod and Brienne on the road. So frequently, because those two are in that region and near there, even though we don’t literally go into the Eyrie, that’s the place that we chose to best symbolize where Littlefinger, Sansa, Brienne and Pod are. Until they have a meaningful interaction somewhere else, we would leave that in the main title.”

Single location episodes don’t get special treatment.

So far, there have been two episodes (season 2’s “Blackwater” and season 4’s “Watchers on the Wall”) that took place in just one locale, but the map functioned like it always did.

“For continuity we would imagine that the title sequence and the path it travels is more representative of the season than a literal translation,” says Spence. “I think to get too literal wouldn’t work with the timing that we have for the sequence itself, and for the animation. It would be spectacular fun if we could animate an entire Castle Black, 107-second title sequence, where the camera goes up and down the Wall, and up and down the elevator and around to the courtyard, that would be a blast. It just wouldn’t be possible.”

Old animation doesn’t usually get changed.

Of the pre-existing animation, the only one that’s been significantly tweaked has been Winterfell, which was on fire for a couple of seasons and is now decorated with the sigil of House Bolton.

When I wonder if the animation for Meereen would change to reflect Dany’s troops knocking over the Harpy statue atop the pyramid, he says, “You know, that’s actually a good idea. We didn’t think of that. But that’s an interesting idea for next season… But I’ll bring that up with David and Dan to see if it makes sense to knock the Harpy off of Meereen. The Harpy popping up on top of that pyramid is so much fun in the animation, we probably wouldn’t want to pull it down. Maybe we would break it in half or something.”

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"The ‘Game of Thrones’ map doesn’t always match up with the story because…"

By: FictionIsntReal

05.04.2015 @ 2:34 AM

I was wondering some of the same things. Although I actually thought the credits weren’t always the same time length and that they repeated the music somehow to add extra time when needed. I had even thought about simultaneously playing different sequences to see where the difference arrived. Because I don’t think there are the same number of total locations in each credit sequence. Checking the wiki, the number of locations has ranged from 4 to 6 (where it has now been for a while).[gameofthrones.wikia.com]

By: Jack

05.04.2015 @ 4:16 AM

The music is extended. The looping theme normally runs for four bars in-between the melody sections, which usually sync up with Kings Landing, Winterfell, the Wall and Dany’s hangout in Essos. Depending on the number of locations they’ll run it for a few extra bars to keep things proper (the same music always plays at The Wall, for example). Once you notice it it’s impossible not to get annoyed by it.

And maybe I watched too much PBS as a child but instead of imagining a mad monk (sparrow?) in a tower I imagine Mr Rogers sitting at his kitchen table with the little model buildings representing the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, telling stories about dragons and wolves and lions.

By: Dave

05.04.2015 @ 3:56 AM

I really enjoyed the idea of this interview, but it feels like the credits/locations aren’t really thought out enough. Alan, your question about Mereen was valid, but should not have stumped Spence so much.

By: Hodor

05.04.2015 @ 5:26 AM

“I really enjoyed the idea of this interview, but it feels like the credits/locations aren’t really thought out enough.”

I hope you’re not serious. This is one of the most original and clever title sequences on television. It’s a brilliant introduction to the world of the books and a clever way to elevate the thematic importance of land and cultures over the individual characters (who die at an alarming rate).

Let’s not nitpick something this great to death.

By: Will

05.04.2015 @ 4:05 AM

So I guess Danny will still be in Mereen next season? Sigh…

By: JREinATL

05.04.2015 @ 2:54 PM

In Season 6, Danny will be pretending to be a serial killer, making it look like various dead Mereneese homeless men were murdered.

And Ser Barristan and Grey Worm are going to be running against each other for Mereen’s 6th Ward alderman.

By: Owen

05.05.2015 @ 1:44 PM

Jreinatl: Grey Worm and Daario have been the investigators this season, so they’re obviously McNulty and Bunk. Grey Worm’s just a humble motherfucker with a bigass… spear.

By: Sam Little

05.04.2015 @ 4:39 AM

This was cool and interesting info. I think Game of Thrones may be the only show that I have never ever fast-forwarded through the opening credits. They feel integral to the show. Even though they may actually be a bit moe haphazard than previously assumed. :)

By: Hodor

05.04.2015 @ 5:22 AM

I’m kinda shocked that you guys (as in you and Dan) didn’t realize that with all the CGI camera movement, optical transitions, and the preset pace and flow of the map itself that changing these week to week would be ridiculously expensive. It’s actually amazing that they change the title sequences more than once during a season, let alone season to season. It’s not like HBO isn’t already spending an ungodly sum on this show as it is.

By: john

05.04.2015 @ 7:52 AM

Is there any way to check whether this and the other comment ‘Hodor’ wrote isn’t from someone at HBO? Seriously, this sounds like someone read all the kvetching on the main fan sites about Dorne being generic, saw Alan do this interview, and put some very cogent points together with authority. And picked a great username that immediately endears readers to the commentor. I would love to know what this ‘Hodor’ thinks of all the changes made and not *after* the title sequences this season…hit me with the company line my man!

By: Dday25

05.04.2015 @ 12:56 PM

I only skimmed the article because and I am definitely not an HBO suit and I agree completely with ‘Hodor’ regardless of who (s)he is. The explanation make perfect sense. Everyone should remember, it is a title sequence – nothing more, nothing less. I have always been amazed by the fascination of Alan and many of his followers over both the title sequence on GoT and the wigs and costumes in “The Americans”.

By: Jer

05.04.2015 @ 7:51 PM

I don’t see where they indicated they thought otherwise….

By: SlackerInc

06.19.2015 @ 5:44 AM

DDAY, I’m agnostic on the GoT title sequence, but I agree with you about the fixation on wigs on “The Americans”!

By: Chris

05.04.2015 @ 12:38 PM

The attention to detail is really something, tho. Like you said with Winterfell, first with the Stark sigil, then on fire, and now decorated (though it pains me to say it) with the flayed man of House Bolton. Great stuff!

By: Cat

05.04.2015 @ 1:10 PM

Having the camera go from Meereen back to Dorne in episode 4 was bizarre though. I don’t think that clarifies where it is for the viewer at all. I remember originally it went from King’s Landing, to Winterfell, to the Wall, then panned down to hover over King’s Landing again, before heading due east to Pentos. Why not have it pan down from the Wall, hover over King’s Landing and then continue all the way to Dorne, before heading due east to Meereen? And the transition from the Wall to Braavos is a bit dizzying. Not too mention despite Braavos only appearing in one episode in season 4, it stayed in the credit sequence for the rest of the season, but the Eyrie never appeared, despite the fact that they could have reused footage of the Eyrie from season 1. No Volantis either, which was sort of weird. A bet most people don’t have the first idea where Tyrion is on the map at the moment.

By: JREinATL

05.04.2015 @ 2:56 PM

Re: the placement of Dorne/Sunspear as the last location, it probably has something to do with what he mentioned about the need to re-use camera movements.

By: Harold

05.17.2015 @ 12:35 AM

Westeros to Braavos does its job, regardless of confusing camera angles – it tells you that a sea separates Dany from Westeros, which is all that’s important. Also, by labeling the Dothaki land it tells you which direction Dany has travelled.

As for Dorne… I think most people could figure out its on the Westeros continent. And even if not, Dorne’s precise location relative to Kings Landing hasn’t become important in the books yet, aside from knowing it’s South.

By: Ricardo

05.04.2015 @ 1:15 PM

I would just appreciate some consistency. Can’t do the credits fast enough? Then settle on one per season. Show all the areas that are going to appear that season. The way it is now just feels random.

By: The Noble Robot

05.04.2015 @ 5:14 PM

“The Harpy popping up on top of that pyramid is so much fun in the animation, we probably wouldn’t want to pull it down. Maybe we would break it in half or something.”

Really? You’re just thinking of this now?

This article shows how lazy and poorly-planned these sequences have been throughout the run of the series. The “mad monk” thing is interesting because it was obviously a totally abandoned conceit, but it wasn’t replaced with anything. It’s just excuse after excuse.

I work in post-production and animation, and deal with many of these same dilemmas. Of course you’re going to have these problems with lead time, etc., but how could they have not expected to face these issues?

By: Jer

05.04.2015 @ 8:05 PM

Yeah, the most complicated opening titles on the air (arguably ever), and they’re “lazy.”

Some people think complaining is the only mode of communication. Damn.

By: The Noble Robot

05.05.2015 @ 4:05 AM

You missed my point, silly.

The way they’re doing it *is* lazy. I didn’t say it wasn’t also a lot of labor. Like I said, I’m in the same line of work.

By: Darren

05.17.2015 @ 12:40 AM

There’s nothing lazy about it. They could’ve just kept the same title every week and nobody would’ve complained. Instead they went above and beyond, and now people complain they didn’t go above and beyond enough.

And the mad monk thing wasn’t abandoned. That’s the reason everything looks like toy models. They weren’t saying they actually wanted to add in a mad monk. The map concept was a brilliant idea for such a complex setting, and the mad monk/toy concept was a clever way to teach us these locations based on their landmarks (heart tree, Red Keep, pyramid, etc).

By: TaylorP

05.05.2015 @ 3:03 PM

I”d like to see the entire landscape in a interactive map or even a short video showing all the locations. If someone could cut and paste or photoshop all the screen shots. I would be appreciative. Even with the opening credits, which I love, I still can’t really comprehend the entirety of the realm.

By: youngjt80

05.05.2015 @ 10:58 PM

Never Googled “map of Westeros?”

By: SlackerInc

06.19.2015 @ 5:48 AM

This is a nice detailed one that I keep handy on my iPad while watching the show: [gameofthrones.net]